I began to see myself as someone who can help others understand diversity rather than feeling like a social outcast. Ellen taught me to not care about other people's opinions. She taught me to be truthful. She taught me to be free. I began to live my life in love and complete acceptance. For the first time I had truly accepted myself.

I thought that if I accomplished enough, that somehow I would be let off the hook in the future. Like I didn’t have to keep striving and achieving because I had done that already, and it would add up to being enough.

Thanks so much, everybody, for making gay marriage legal, thank you for everything you've done-I'm just going to walk through that door

I would eat 300 calories a day - a lot of Jell-O and no-sugar everything, of course. I was doing Pilates, weight-training, circuit training; over lunch I would run on a treadmill in my dressing room with a fan on my face so I wouldn't sweat my makeup off.

Restriction generates yearning. You want what you cannot have.

I knew that I was gay, I knew it. I just couldn't see myself as a gay woman, even though that's where my heart was.

Normal" isn't an adjective you wish to hear after putting that much effort into making sure it was spectacular.